Bento (Japanese style) packed, vegan meals

[Blueberries]

I finally got myself a bento box! In the top part there's a veggie rasher sandwich with houmous, red peppers and spinach and in the bottom I put some black bean quinoa croquettes (from Vegan With A Vengeance) with some brown sauce for dipping in the container and a sliced apple.

[Blueberries]

How do you reduce the size of photobucket pictures?

[RubyDuby]

You want it smaller than that??

[fondducoeur]

Yum yum. Everything looks good.

Ananas, did you make that "chicken" leg? That looks so realistic; what is it?

[RubyDuby]

(I bought a bag of those veggie drumsticks at an Asian market, fonddu... don't know if you have one near you)

[!!]

Now I have a job where I need a packup I'll be posting again later this month. I forgot about posting in the original thread and I took a look at some of the pictures... om nommy. But I need to aspire to have more variety, so I'm thinking of things now, hehe.

[Blueberries]

Sorry that last picture turned out so small, it was huge when I posted it!
Silly Photobucket, I'll get the hang of this eventually!



Tomorrow's box has berry flavoured yogurt with hemp seeds, stir fried veg with rice and quinoa, an apple with peanut butter and a mixture of nuts and popcorn.

[Festered]

well i was going to say apricots - you should remember - it was you who coined it don't forget!

It voz me , actually
I love these bento threads, though I could probably do with being bothered to make one myself at some point!

[Ananas]

Ananas, did you make that "chicken" leg? That looks so realistic; what is it?

I bought it at an Asian vegetarian shop in my town which sells fake meat/fish. It's made of soy bean stuff and probably some wheat gluten, the 'bone' is made of chestnut and cane sugar (nice to chew on, tastes sweet, though you can't eat it). The first time i walked in there i was kinda shocked because they seriously have ducks and lobsters in there which look so real! But it's all veggie and mostly vegan because they don't use eggs either.

Some more bentos:

05/08

Stir fried bok choi, mushrooms with noodles & sesame/ginger sauce (1,000 Vegan Recipes); baked beans; creamy cauliflower (1,000 VR), raw carrot sticks & tomatoes with balsamic vinegar.

05/09

Green bean & chickpea tajine (Vegan Planet); spicy falafel with garlic veganaise; rhubarb; salad made of endive (or should i say escarole?), olives and tomatoes

05/10

Green bean & chickpea tajine (VP); carrots; rhubarb; chili sauce to go with the carrots and steamed bok choi with ginger and fried onions.

05/11

Lemon Risotto with peas and roasted pepper (Veganomicon); apple and raisins with too much cinnamon (cat jumped on me); rhubarb; salad of endive, white cabbage and carrot with olives and sundried tomatoes & balsamic vinaigrette.

05/12

Mexican veggie mix with avocado; bean balls (Veganomicon); pear slices; puff pastry bread with indian spiced cauliflower/chickpea filling.

05/13

Mexican veggiemix; tortilla crisps; guacamole; polenta & spicy tomato ragu (1,000 Vegan Recipes).

[cedarblue]

It voz me , actually
!

i stand corrected!

[!!]

Here's one I did today and one the other day



From top left clockwise we have Broccoli trees and cauliflower clouds with a giraffe poking his head out, carrot and cucumber flowers with vegan mayo, raspberries with a chicken for some unknown reason and then a tofu cow that has nori decoration on sticky rice. This one was a sort of copy of one in Vegan lunchbox around the world, apart from she had a tofu tiger and some strawberries instead.



Top half is rice balls with salad leaves, mini berry tomatoes, star cucumber and flower carrots with a tiger soy sauce bottle . The bottom section is onion hummus wraps with broccoli and cauliflower sprinkled with seeds, also with a dash of salad.

[RubyDuby]

I love them, !! !

[smallhelen]

I feel all inspired again. At the moment, I've just been throwing cherry tomatoes, raw carrots, cashews and sultanas in my box, with occasional vegan sausages or oatcakes (so, so lazy). NO MORE! I must be more creative and take marvellous photographs (hmm, might have to wait until Monday to be creative. Tomorrow will just have to be more of the same).

[!!]

I love them, !! !

Thank you (If you're talking to me, it might just be lots of !'s, hehe)

It's my first attempt at making my bento 'cute', hehe!

[cedarblue]

what a cute tiger sauce bottle! !!

[!!]

It's Friday so I get some treats today.

The top box is veggie rice with tofu stars...

The bottom has a cucumber and berry tomato salad on the right and on the left is a vegan cream cheese puffy pastry... thing, with a mushroom made from vegan cheese / pepperoni.

My favourite yet

The bottles and picks are from http://www.japancentre.com/, came with 2 days of ordering. I think it was £2.50 for 6 bottles with a pippette for filling and £2.50 for 6 food stabbers if you're interested in buying them

[Blueberries]

Aww wow !!, a super-mario themed lunch, I love it!
I should start giving my lunches themes!

[Blueberries]

The top tier has mixed nuts, strawberry hearts, blueberries and peanut butter & blackcurrant jam sandwich while the bottom has mixed bean chilli with polenta and avocoado.

Ananas gave me the inspiration for the avocado and chilli. It's a really good combination, thank you! XD

[jamboxrock]

Blueberries and Ananas, yours look so good! Ananas, I love the idea of balsamic for dipping raw veggies, don't know why I never though of it...

!! - so cute!

[RubyDuby]

mmmm, balsamic is good with berries too!

[Ananas]

Thank you jamboxrock! It's really nice indeed with the vinegar.


Some more bentos:
03/17

Clockwise: Taco with seitan, endive, tomato & avocado; spinach burgers (dutch recipe); tofu 'cheese' dip (also dutch recipe); endive w/ mashed potatoes and cashew nuts (now that would be a typical dutch meal called 'stamppot', mash pot )

03/18

Salad of endive, tomato and fresh herbs with soy yoghurt/vinegar dressing; cucumber; spinach burgers again; potato/chickpea/green bean stew

03/19

Stir fry of green veggie mix, with tempeh and rice; cherry tomatoes; homemade soy yoghurt with grapes; bread roll with spinach burgers and tofu 'cheeze' dip.

[Eleanor Rigby]

This thread is amazing. Fact. Never heard of a laptop lunchbox before, immediately went and ordered one and it arrived today. Sorry for the boring pic, hopefully when I have more time I'll try something more creative. Love the idea of themed lunches, the Super Mario one is ace!


For tomorrow: Little gem lettuce, vinaigrette dressing, carrot batons, Hovis best of both w/tofu and Marmite, plain soya yoghurt w/sulatans.

[smallhelen]

I am really frustrated cos the battery in my camera is out of juice, and I can't find the charger. If I could, you would now be seeing photo of bento box containing the following:
Exquisite rice salad (from HIAV), cauliflower mayo, carrots and cherry tomatoes, and a Peanut Butter Cookie (from LDV).
Please can you use your imaginations, and I'll keep hunting for the charger.....

[misskitty89]

I came out of lurkerdom to say I love this thread - all the meals in here look so wonderful!

Absolutely loved the look of the pistachio pudding in KarmaGirl's daughter's bento though. I literally jumped at the sight of it, and the kid in me screamed "I WANT!!!!!!" haha I mean just look at the stuff!!!! Wow wow wow!

Homemade veggie Sushi, tomatoes, strawberries, wasabi, and Pistachio pudding.

And jamboxrock has me craving mint dark chocolate biiiig time haha

[pusskins]

My parents very kindly bought me some bento when they were in Singapore. However, they didn't come with bands or the little chopsticks which fit in the lid, although the setup for it is there.

I know I can get the bands online, but I haven't been able to find chopsticks small enough. Have looked at the obvious websites - jbox, bento and co., etc. Do you know the sort I mean? Can anybody help me?

Thank you!

[itswuteves]

i would just like to say that i LOVE this thread ^_^ it was the first one i read when i found this site, and i loved it so much i'm looking into getting my own bento haha ^_^ thought i'd share! <3

[pusskins]

My parents very kindly bought me some bento when they were in Singapore. However, they didn't come with bands or the little chopsticks which fit in the lid, although the setup for it is there.

I know I can get the bands online, but I haven't been able to find chopsticks small enough. Have looked at the obvious websites - jbox, bento and co., etc. Do you know the sort I mean? Can anybody help me?

Thank you!

Well! I did some footering around, and got me 4 pairs of chopsticks for my new bento! And they are actually the pairs which go with each bento. Am so pleased. Am now waiting on the bands I ordered - which, again, are the bands which go with each bento! Thank you, ebay!

Oh, I am much pleased. Oh yes.

Will post pics of new bento when I get the bands...

[cansel]

These are so cute!

[xpecting]

These all look amazing. I've always wondered. looking at these bento boxes. A lot of the dishes look like they're better eaten hot. Do you stick them in the micro wave? Do the manage to keep their heat or do you just settle on having stuff cold?

[patientia]

Does anybody Lock&Lock boxes? I don't know if they are considered bento style boxes, but I love that they are airtight and that I can bring every component of my meal in a different box. I can put soup in a box, close it, turn it upside down, leave it all day, and it won't leak.

[Ananas]

xpecting, it indeed tastes better when it's hot... but at school i can't use a microwave, so then i eat it cold. at work i am able to use one, and i usually do so. i got used to eating cold meals though, and it's not so bad.

[Korn]

I just noticed how Google search has improved lately. Try to eg. enter site:veganforum.com bento and click on images, and you'll get a zoomable overview of all the images in our vegan bento threads...

[Tigerlily]

OMG, cool!

[!!]

Where's everyone gone? Time for some bento posts



A quick and easy one for me today... hummus and pittas with peppers and cucumber and some mini spring rolls. Gonna be a bit more creative as the week progresses (hopefully!).

[Blueberries]

!!, your little cucumber stars are adorable, do you use a biscuit cutter or do you cut them out by hand?

[!!]

I use a mini cutter- and then put the big bits underneath the stars so it looks pretty, but no waste

[Daffodil]

new year's diet and back on the Bento - dragged the box outta the back of the cupboard. No photo today but I have 2 little pots of homemade vegan vegetable curry n brown rice, one little pot of those little pink wafer biscuits (left over from xmas having a treat) and a satsuma/clementine/tangerine type thing (I never can tell the difference). Looking forward to my organic veg box getting delivered from the farm tomorrow so's I can cook a huge bowl of stew.. I have put on nearly a stone over xmas be eating all bad food from packets/tins (no homecooking)... I am paying the price today only my jogging bottoms fit me for work - jeans are tooooo tight lol oops. Might go for a run lunch time if it warms up a bit later.

[!!]

How's it going daffodil? I'm back to the bento / gym for the same reason! hee.

Here's mine and my boys from yesterday. (I finally convinced him bento was a good idea). I'll pop todays up later!



Top: Pasta shells with vegan pesto and peppers.

Bottom: Dark chocolate, apricot skewer and rasins.



And for the boy... Poppyseed roll, tartlet, apricot skewer & rasins with dark chocolate (former Xmas tree decoration...) and a salad made of peppers and cucumber stars with tiger and chicken shaped picks.

[megrainbows]

Totoro caraben bento in my new Totoro one tier box that I got from Jlist.com (at a very silly price.. £20 for a tiny plastic box... )

Totoro onigiri (made with rice, nori for feature detail, vegan cheeze slice for eye detail), crispy fried sesame tofu, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce

[megrainbows]

Tomorrow's bento:

Crispy fried tofu, Onigiri with nori eyes/mouth, lots of endame (soya beans), broccoli (favourite food!), a radish, sugar snap peas, lettuce, watercress, carrot heart

[twinkle]

Does anybody Lock&Lock boxes? I don't know if they are considered bento style boxes, but I love that they are airtight and that I can bring every component of my meal in a different box. I can put soup in a box, close it, turn it upside down, leave it all day, and it won't leak.

I love lock and lock boxes! I used to use them all the time when I was doing shift work

My friend gave me an incredibly cute bento box with adorable cartoon animals on but I'm too scared to use it in case I forget to clean it out and it goes gunky and horrible (I am bad at remembering things like that sometimes )

[emmapresley]

http://www.plasticashop.com/mm5/merc...tegory_Code=CE

i love the look of these. im thinking they look like they hold a lot of food too!! but £38 grr. cant justify it atm) oh $38..stil is loads of moneyl??

m going to get back into bento for work lunches, i miss making and eating them, the fuss it takes and enjoyment to put them all togther and im sick of eating jacket potatoes for lunch (borrrrr-ring)

my boxes are plastic sections and just the band to hold together..id like something more reassuringly clippable.

[RubyDuby]

I have that box! See posts #1172-1185

They hold a whole days worth of food... or a picnic for 2.

[The Silver Doe]

WOW!! That looks incredible!! I might have to try doing that next year for uni So many times there has been no vegan food and I couldn't eat anything :-(

[Daffodil]

How's it going daffodil? I'm back to the bento / gym for the same reason! hee.

new year's diet and back on the Bento - dragged the box outta the back of the cupboard. No photo today but I have 2 little pots of homemade vegan vegetable curry n brown rice, one little pot of those little pink wafer biscuits (left over from xmas having a treat) and a satsuma/clementine/tangerine type thing (I never can tell the difference). Looking forward to my organic veg box getting delivered from the farm tomorrow so's I can cook a huge bowl of stew.. I have put on nearly a stone over xmas be eating all bad food from packets/tins (no homecooking)... I am paying the price today only my jogging bottoms fit me for work - jeans are tooooo tight lol oops. Might go for a run lunch time if it warms up a bit later.

hmmm... famous last words. I never did get my bento box out! lol. But I am going to tonight. I eat very healthily but just far too big portion sizes! So tonight I shall be cooking up some treats.

[Daffodil]

another good reason to is so that I can practice my new hobby..... photography

[Blueberries]

Brown rice w/butternut squash/carrot/tomato sauce, chopped red apple and mixed nuts in my bento box

[cedarblue37]

i love the little giraffe peeping out from the grass - what is that, a little fork type thing or just a toy?

[Blueberries]

i love the little giraffe peeping out from the grass - what is that, a little fork type thing or just a toy?

Thank you, Cedarblue It's a little fork

[!!]

The giraffe is so cute

Did you get back on the bento wagon daffodil?